


You said I was such a gamble (But you misunderstood)

by bruisingknees



Series: shambles [3]
Category: Druck | SKAM (Germany)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Canon Trans Character, Getting Together, M/M, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-19 17:28:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19977796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bruisingknees/pseuds/bruisingknees
Summary: It's an ugly sweater, is the thing. It's an objectively hideous thing andyet. Yet, it kind of looks good. Maybe it's just the person wearing it, that's making it look good. That could also very well be the case.--Chapter one from David's POV.





	You said I was such a gamble (But you misunderstood)

**Author's Note:**

> The third installment in the Shambles series! This is a re-write of the first chapter from David's point of view. I started this back in May, after @carie2014 suggested it in the comments and I thought it was a great idea. So thank you, carie2014 for the inspiration! :) Aside from the scenes with Matteo, there are a lot of extra scenes from David's POV. (If you haven't read the first chapter in a while, that might work in your (and my) favor cause hopefully things won't feel too repetitive lmao)
> 
> Title, as for all fics in this series, from the beautiful song Shambles. by Ben Zaidi.

David's eyes are tracing the pattern on the sweater the guy in front of him is wearing while in the background Professor Weber drones on in the intro to Communication class.

David tends to go through his notes after class to make sure he got everything, and to get a head start on making flashcards. He revises the cards and notes again before the next class as well, just cause it makes following along during lectures easier. It's a tactic that’s definitely been helping him keep all his course work on track while he's also putting in a lot of hours at the theater group and volunteering at the LGBTQA+ center most weekends. He had to give up football a couple of weeks ago, just cause it wasn't working out anymore. It was a bit of a bummer, but he can always try to fit it in again next semester.

This class, in particular, seems to do a lot of revisiting previously addressed points though, on top of relying heavily on examples, which has never been something David needed. It does the opposite of making things easier for him and instead just bores him, honestly. Hence why he's currently more interested in what this guy is wearing than what the teacher is saying.

It's an ugly sweater, is the thing. It's an objectively hideous thing and _yet_. Yet, it kind of looks good. Maybe it's just the person wearing it, that's making it look good. That could also very well be the case.

He's got light hair and an undercut that’s working for him pretty well, just like his ugly sweater is. His ears look cute. Is that a thing? Can ears look cute? David thinks they can, at least. Just like an ugly sweater can look good on someone, apparently. David is absentmindedly tracing the pattern of the sweater with his eyes again. It's making his hands itch a little. He wants to sketch something out on paper, and maybe make it a focal point of one of the poster projects he's working on for this semester’s theater production.

Maybe he could make that work. Maybe he could talk to the crew about changing up the decor for Juliet's room, and they could make a wallpaper out of this ugly pattern. David thinks it could be crazy enough to work.

He's completely lost in thought, and misses that class has been dismissed, until the boy in the ugly sweater grabs his backpack and gets up from his seat. David blinks as he's suddenly looking at the guy's face in profile. He busies himself with clearing up his things, before he's caught staring.

\--

He's wearing a blue sweater the next week. Just plain blue, no pattern, but the sweater’s at least three sizes too big. He's pushed the sleeves up over his elbows, showing off his pale and slender wrists. David thinks about them for almost the entire duration of class.

The week after that David spends the first half of the morning convinced the guy's wearing a blanket until he can finally spot his hands as he stretches and lets out a cute yawn. It's gotten slightly colder out, autumn well and truly on its way now, and apparently that means no more wrists for David to look at. Instead, he gets sweater paws and a scarf that remains wrapped around the guy's neck the whole class.

\--

The next week David's pen explodes.

Of course this would happen to the _one_ pen he found at the very bottom of his backpack after having forgotten his pen case at home that morning. David quickly dries his hands on some tissues and tries to dab away at the ink that spilled in his notebook as well. Once he’s managed to take control of the situation a bit, he’s still left without a pen though.

He thinks about turning to one of the people sitting on either side of him when he gets a much better idea.

“Hey, pssst,” he stage-whispers at the guy sitting one row ahead of him.

It takes him a while to respond, but after David asks him for a pen, he springs into action quickly enough and presents David with an _IKEA pencil_.

"Thank you," David says. He's not sure if this is a joke or not. When the guy shows him his own IKEA pencil, before turning back to face the front of the classroom to continue taking notes, David realizes that he is in fact for real.

Okay then.

Part of him regrets not just turning to the person to his left or right. When he sneaks a glance at their desks, they all seem like they've got a nice, big collection of normal pens with them. He makes do, though.

After class gets dismissed he sees his chance to try and talk to this person again.

"Thanks again," David says, trying to return the pencil.

He just looks at it with a smirk and says: "No, keep that. I have like 50 of those."

Which, _okay_.

"In that case," David smiles. "Double thanks, then."

"No problem," the guy says, making a move to walk away.

"I'm David," David calls out, a little desperate to keep the conversation going at this point.

"Matteo," Matteo replies.

David is just about to ask him if maybe he wants to grab lunch when he hears Max call out from the door: "David! I've been starving, waiting for your class to end."

"Yeah, coming," David calls back. He gives Matteo a regretful smile and goes up to meet his friend for lunch.

Maybe he can find a way to stretch out the conversation a bit longer next class.

\---

When David gets home that evening it's to Sam cooking something that smells absolutely amazing.

"That smells so good," David compliments, hanging his coat on the coat rack in the hallway before following his nose to the stove.

"Aww, thanks, babe," Sam grins.

"What's cooking then?" David asks.

"The box it came in is over there," Sam says, pointing at the recycling station Kiki set up. "You didn't think I made this from scratch right?" She laughs. "It's some sort of stew, should be good."

David thinks about the fact that it's almost 7 and he doesn't really know what he's gonna do for dinner yet, when Sam looks over at him with a knowing smile and asks: "Do you want some?"

"Oh, no. I wouldn't wanna-"

"Come on, are you gonna make me eat alone?" She asks. "If you promise to do the dishes, I'm willing to share my amazing heating skills with you."

"Okay, deal," David agrees, grabbing them a couple of plates and setting the table.

When Sam deems dinner appropriately heated, and has snapped some (a dozen) pictures of her plate, she takes a picture of David as well. "Okay, hold your fork like that and look like you're really excited to be eating my cooking," she tells him.

"I _am_ really excited to be eating your cooking," he assures her, quite hungry at this point.

She takes a couple of pictures before David asks: "Can I please start?"

"No, wait wait," she says, holding up the phone at an angle and taking a picture of the two of them with their food. "There,” she says. "If I don't post enough pictures to prove that I'm eating, my family seems to assume that I'm constantly starving or something."

“Mhmh,” David replies around a forkful of excellently heated food.

\--

On Thursday Sam sends a message to their flatshare group.

From Sam: Is anyone at uni??

From Kiki: No, I'm already done for the day.

From Hanna: I'm here yeah.

From David: I just arrived.

From Sam: Does anyone want to go grab lunch with me??

From Hanna: I've already eaten and I've got to go get a bunch of books from the library UGH.

From David: I'll meet you for lunch, Sammy.

From Sam: Yay! See you in front of the cafeteria in ten minutes

From David: Okay, see you.

\---

"Hey," David greets Matteo. It's a new Tuesday, so a new opportunity for David to talk to Sweater Guy.

Matteo looks down at his backpack for slightly longer than normal, and David follows his line of sight to the pride pins. He's gotten some interesting reactions to them but most, if not all, have been positive. He tries not to read anything into Matteo's _lack_ of comment.

“Thanks again for saving the day last week. Never had a pen revolt against me in such a dramatic fashion before. It took me days to scrub the ink off,” he tries to joke.

“Must’ve been something you wrote,” Matteo says, getting his book out of his backpack and flipping it open to the chapter they're supposed to cover today.

“Ah, you think I offended the pen while taking notes on a class on verbal communication?” David asks.

“Well, that’s what you say you were doing. I can’t actually know for sure what you were writing,” Matteo shrugs, smiling up at him.

“You’ve got me,” David nods. “I was actually writing hardcore pokémon pornography. You know, to pass the time.”

David can hear a squeak coming from someone passing by. Maybe he should think twice before cracking jokes that strange around a bunch of people who don't know him or his sense of humor. That's embarrassing.

“I guess the cat’s out of the bag on that now." At least Matteo seems to realize it was a joke. He looks cute when he smiles like that.

“Yeah. Outed once again," David says.

Class starts and Matteo gives him a little nod before turning away and paying attention.

David sinks down deeper in his seat and resists the urge to let his face fall onto the desk.

\---

David went out with some people from the theater group the night before, and set his alarm for the latest possible time he could wake up and still be in class on time. He’s running on less sleep than usual, but feeling pretty good about the day ahead. Feeling even better when he sees that Matteo is already in his seat.

“Yo,” he greets Matteo, sitting down next to him.

David had tried to wave at Matteo last Wednesday, when he saw him walk into his sociology class. Matteo had been there with someone though, a confused-looking guy who seemed less than enthusiastic about everything. That’s also exactly how Matteo’s reply to his wave had been. Less than enthusiastic.

Now that his surly friend isn't there, Matteo gives him a small smile and throws a quick look behind them where David usually sits. “Hi.”

"I thought I'd try a seat down here today," David says by way of explanation. "Just in case you’re on to something by always sitting here. Unless you were saving this seat for someone else?" He asks, holding off on grabbing his stuff from his bag just in case.

"No, I don't know anyone in this class,” Matteo shrugs.

"You know me.”

"Do you ever really know someone though?" Matteo asks.

David laughs and goes through his bag to get his notebook and textbook. On second thought he leaves his pen case in his bag for the moment.

"You've got that whole fake deep college student down. Nice."

"Well, if you can't be actually smart, the next best thing you can be is fake deep." Matteo starts rifling through his own bag now as well, grabbing everything he’ll need. Apparently what he’ll need is a dog-eared notebook that looks like it’s been the victim of more than one spilled-drink incident, a textbook that’s seen better days and _four_ of those damned IKEA pencils.

Class is about to start, and on a whim David asks: "Can I borrow this?” He carefully picks out one of the pencils, never mind that he still has the original one he borrowed in his own pen case.

Matteo shrugs and nods in reply.

The teacher bids them good morning and David tries, he really does, to pay attention. But she spends the first half an hour going over everything they already discussed last week and David just checks out after a while. He's usually good at at least _pretending_ that he’s paying attention. Sure, sometimes he's actually just deep in thought about what exciting sweater Matteo is wearing that week (it’s another cream-colored one, with a maroon pattern today,) but he’s confident most people wouldn’t be able to tell that from looking at him.

This week it feels more difficult though. He isn’t sure if it’s the lack of sleep, or if it’s cause Matteo is sitting next to him. Cream-and-maroon elbow bumping into his field of vision from time to time.

David quietly rips out one of the pages of his notebook and starts sketching. He draws inspiration from his current mood. He hopes it’ll make Matteo smile, and sketches out a little version of himself sleeping at his desk. He wants to draw a little Matteo as well, but in the end decides to just litter the floor with IKEA pencils to _represent_ Matteo.

The sketch’s finished at least 10 minutes before David finally makes up his mind and slides it over to Matteo. He watches Matteo slowly pick up the paper and study it. His face doesn’t really give away what he’s thinking, nor does he say anything about it to David. He’s still just _looking_ when class is dismissed.

"Thanks," David blurts out as he returns the pencil to Matteo.

"Oh. Yeah, sure," Matteo replies, finally looking up at him with a small smile.

David smiles back and books it out of there.

\---

The LGBTQA+ group likes to organize lunches sometimes. Ideally, Max would like to see them happening weekly, but with everyone’s schedules, they’re lucky if they can make it work once a month. Most active volunteers managed to keep this lunch period free though, so it’s happening _right now_.

Well, it should be, at least.

David never would’ve guessed how hard it would be for a group of people to agree on what to have for lunch. There are a couple (a lot) of specific requests and restrictions that can’t be ignored. More than a fair share of people in the group are either vegetarian or vegan, there are food allergies and then there are also just fussy eaters.

David keeps out of the discussion because he really doesn’t care what they end up going with. At this point he’s just hungry and ready for them to eat _anything_.

“Okay,” Max says, that _I’ve got it, no worries_ authoritative side of him rising during the biggest moments of stress, like always. “If there are no further objections,” he says firmly but carefully, “we’ll go to the deli around the corner and just eat in the park. That way everyone can take what they want, and if necessary people who can’t find anything there can go to the supermarket next door or to the coffee shop next to that.”

Everyone seems placated by that, and David jumps off the table he's been observing the discussion from, for the past fifteen minutes. He’s ready to eat.

Beck, who was sitting next to him, stays seated and groans into her hands.

“What’s up?” David asks. “Don’t think you’ll be able to find anything in the deli, supermarket _or_ coffee shop?”

She shoots him a smirk from behind her hands and rolls her eyes, they've been (silently) making fun of the whole discussion the whole time they've been there. “I think I’ll manage,” she tells him.

“What’s up then?”

“My bag weighs like a ton. I wasn’t expecting us to have to go eat somewhere else.”

David lifts her bag from the floor and yeah, it’s not exactly light, but it’s not that bad either. “I’ll carry it for you,” he tells her.

“Oh, dude, no,” she says. “I’m not a damsel in distress, it’s fine.”

“It’s fine, come on, I could eat a horse and if I have to wait for you to haul this backpack anywhere....”

She rolls her eyes again but allows him to carry her bag.

The group exits the main uni building and crosses the courtyard. Beck puts her hand on David’s arm to pull him closer so she can whisper in his ear: “Wanna bet on how long it’ll take everyone to decide on what to get once we arrive? I know at least three people have class in 40 minutes, so they’ll have to leave almost as soon as we get there.”

David chuckles: “My whole afternoon has been cleared just for this.”

“At least one volunteer who’s dedicated to this lunch,” she says with an exaggerated sigh.

David and Beck don't end up shaking on the bet, but it takes approximately forty minutes for everyone to get their food and get seated in the park, by which time some people have already left again.

“Should’ve gone for that bet, could’ve paid for my lunch with my winnings,” Beck remarks.

David feels bad for Max, who’s been trying to make this lunch happen for so long now. The turn out is still great though, and they do manage to discuss some important things with everyone who’s still there.

“Thanks again for carrying my bag,” Beck says after they’ve gotten back to campus. “But honestly, what else do I have big, strong friends for?” She gives David’s bicep a little squeeze, and he squirms away with a laugh.

“No, problem,” David accepts the thank you hug she gives him when they get to her bus stop.

“See you at Brian’s birthday party?” He asks her.

“Yeah, of course," she says. "See you there!"

\---

Brian is one of the crew members in the theater group. He’s a great guy and an actual sound _wizard_. David worked with him for the summer production they did and has heard nothing but great things from students who’ve worked with him the previous years as well. On top of all of that he’s also just a super funny guy. Whenever all of them go out for drinks or dinner after meetings or rehearsals, he’s always the life of the party.

It’s his 21st birthday that weekend and a couple of crew and cast members made sure there was cake after rehearsal that Friday.

They deliver a very dramatic performance of _Happy Birthday_ for him, which he gets a kick out of, and he makes sure to give each and every one of them a thank-you hug.

“You’re coming to my party tomorrow, right?” Brian asks him when it's time for David’s hug.

“Yeah, of course, wouldn’t want to miss it,” David says while Brian continues to squeeze him tightly.

“Heey, good, man!” Brian says, bouncing over to hug the next person in line.

\---

David and a couple of the other cast members take the bus to Brian’s together. Brian has a giant house he's renting with three friends, it's a great place to throw a party. The girls are all dressed to the nines, glitter make-up on their eyelids and high on their cheekbones. David feels significantly underdressed next to them, but they keep telling him he looks great. It makes him blush slightly every time.

The door to the house is open when they get there, and the party seems to be in full swing already. There's definitely more than just theater people there, not that David had expected anything else from a social butterfly like Brian.

Even knowing that, David still hadn’t quite expected to see Matteo there. That’s unmistakably him though, waiting in line for the bathroom. Once he's spotted him, David can't help but want to go and say hello. It's the polite thing to do, after all. He finishes the conversation he’s having with Gavin from his statistics class and Chloë, who’s in the theater group, before excusing himself and making his way to Matteo.

"Hey!”

Matteo blinks up at him in surprise.

“Where do you know Brian from?" David asks, curious.

"I don't." It sounds more like a question than an answer though.

“About this high,” David tries to accurately convey how tall Brian is. “Ginger? It’s his birthday party you’re at?”

“I thought we were here for a girl's birthday," Matteo says and that’s such a Matteo answer that David has to laugh.

"Nope.”

"Where do you know Bruce from then?" Matteo asks, putting enough emphasis on the name that David knows he’s teasing David on purpose.

"Brian," David says.

"Brian. Of course.”

"Theater," David says. People keep half-way bumping into him while trying to pass the toilet queue, so David goes to lean against the wall beside Matteo.

"Right,” Matteo replies. He sounds amused.

"Right?"

"Yeah, I heard you're a theater geek." Matteo immediately looks a bit embarrassed that he said that, like he wants to take it back, which just makes it all the funnier.

"You're not interested in joining then?" David teases right back. "We still need some people for our Juliet play."

"Ah, I see. You're just here to recruit me," Matteo scrunches up his nose adorably.

"Yup," David says. "I've been tasked with casting tree number four at this party."

"I do an excellent tree," Matteo replies. Totally unexpectedly he raises his arms to actually act out _a tree_ , making David laugh again.

Before David can tell him he's got the role, Anna suddenly appears next to them and asks David: "Ready, Romeo?"

They lost track of each other when they arrived at the party, both taking off to talk to other people, and David did promise her a dance. _It would be good for their dance scene in the play_ , she’d told him. _Stop looking for excuses to ask me to dance_ , he'd replied, _and just ask me already._ Max had rolled his eyes and pretended to gag, cause he hates when they play that game.

The queue’s moving up anyway. It’s almost Matteo’s turn, and David doesn’t think he can really justify waiting for him outside to finish so they can continue their conversation about casting calls and trees, without making it a little too obvious that David would really like to dance with Matteo instead.

"Talk to you later," David tells Matteo, before allowing Anna to drag him further into the house.

“Was that Matteo?” She asks him once they’ve reached the drinks.

“How do you know about Matteo?” David asks, grabbing a coke for himself.

“Max,” she shrugs.

“Of course.” Why did David even ask?

They eventually have their dance, and David runs into a billion people he wants to say hi to, and then he has to have a drink with the birthday boy as well. When he tries to find Matteo again it's already been about an hour since he last saw him. His search ends up being pointless though, because it appears Matteo already left despite it not even being 10 o'clock yet.

“How about you just ask him out?” Max asks him.

“Yeah!” Anna agrees enthusiastically.

She’s had a couple of drinks now, so everything she says is delivered quite _enthusiastically_. They're sitting outside on the deckchairs in Brian's garden. Max on one chair and David and Anna on the other.

“I’m working on it,” David says. “I just need to feel him out a bit more. I don’t even know if he likes guys. If he likes me.”

“I mean, I get it,” Max says. “But don’t wait too long or you might end up regretting it.”

“Yes!” Anna says, enthusiastically. “Go get your boy.”

“Also you have to stop telling people,” David tells Max, curling his arm around Anna to secure her as she droops against his shoulder. "Because there's nothing to tell yet, and it's embarrassing."

“It’s Anna,” Max says. “She’s literally the Juliet to your Romeo, I’m sure she’s obliged to know that you like-“

“I don’t _like_ ,” David says. Lies. “I’m _interested_.”

“That you’re _interested_ in some guy.”

“Why is she obliged to know?” David asks.

“She’s your work wife,” Max shrugs. “Also, she’s my sister so she heard us talking about it when you were over a couple of days ago. Which makes this just about as much your own fault as mine.”

“Fucking honestly,” David rolls his eyes.

Anna is clutching her hands in his jacket now. “I wanna go home,” she mumbles.

“We’ll take you home,” David promises her.

\---

Max is right though. David _is_ interested in Matteo and he’s not going to find out how Matteo feels about him unless he actually does something a bit more proactive about it. He’s been trying to play it safe and test the waters for weeks now. So far Matteo is either not catching on, or is purposefully not giving David a clear answer because he’s not feeling it.

David is trying to stay positive though and likes to think it’s just that Matteo hasn't realized that David's been flirting with him yet. Maybe David has to be a little more direct. So David makes himself a deal. It’s not like he’s got a whole game plan set out for their next Communication class, but he has decided for himself that he’s going to try _something_ that morning at least.

Of course, that would be the day Matteo doesn't show up for class.

David spends the whole morning _not_ sulking.

On the bright side: his notes haven't been this thorough for this class in weeks. And hey, maybe he can help Matteo out by giving him a copy of his notes.

\---

David had somewhat convinced himself that Matteo was sick and wouldn’t be there for sociology either, so when he shows up for class, David isn't quite ready. No time like the present, though, so he gathers his books and pens from where he’d already put everything on his desk at his usual spot, and goes over to where Matteo's sitting instead.

"Hey! You missed class yesterday," David says.

"I overslept," Matteo replies.

"I’ve been there. Too bad though, you missed a great class," David says sarcastically.

"I bet," Matteo looks a bit on edge, and his friend, the surly one, is giving off a weird vibe as well.

"Sorry, hi," David says when the surly friend clears his throat. "I'm David."

"I know, I'm friends with Sam," the guy says, a little out of left field.

"Oh, you know Sam?” David asks. “She's really great."

"She is.”

"That's Jonas, by the way," Matteo jumps in.

"Nice to meet you," David says.

All he gets in reply is a grunt.

"He hasn't had his coffee yet,” Matteo looks apologetic, which makes David feel a bit better. It's not Matteo's fault his friend is being a bit rude.

David’s dilemma on whether or not he should just return to his previous seat or sit down gets resolved for him when the teacher gets there and he doesn’t really have a choice but to sit down where he is.

David opens his backpack and tells Matteo: "What I came over to tell you is that if you need notes for yesterday’s class you can copy mine."

"Yeah?" Matteo asks.

"I'm free after this class, if you want to-" _copy my notes_ , David wants to say. _Grab some coffee with me?_ he wants to ask.

Jonas interrupts him before he’s able to though.

"Class started,” he says.

David lets out a small sigh and grabs his stuff. He’s expecting Matteo to just stare ahead the whole class and leave it at that until a note finds its way to David’s side of the desk.

_Sorry about my friend. Caffeine withdrawal is no joke._

David smiles at him. _It's cool._

Matteo takes the note and adds: _I'm busy after class. But thanks :)_ The smiley face is a bit lopsided and David can’t help but find it endearing.

__That's cool too. Next week then maybe._ _

__I'm a cool guy, it’s true._ _David rolls his eyes at that last note.

He thinks about what he can reply, but everything he comes up with sounds stupid to his own ears. So, instead, he finds himself making Matteo another little drawing.

He sketches out a coffee cup with sunglasses on, he puts extra attention to the design of the cup and the sprawling font. He adds his phone number as well, traces over the numbers carefully with his pen. When class ends, he slides the paper over to Matteo.

"See you guys around, then,” he says to the friends. David waits for a second to see if Jonas has warmed up to him a little bit maybe, but all he gets in reply is another blank stare.

Okay, then.

\---

“Do you know Jonas and Matteo?” David asks Sam that evening when they’re sitting on the couch, watching TV.

“Yeah,” Sam says, not taking her eyes off the cop show she loves. It's a truly sub-par show, but she really enjoys it for some reason. She always gets so engrossed he’s surprised she even heard him. “Why?”

“We’re in some of the same classes,” David says.

“Oh,” Sam says, slowly shoveling popcorn in her mouth. It takes until the commercial break before she looks over at David and clarifies. “Yeah, Jonas, Matteo and I go way back. We’re not super close or anything though. Jonas is Hanna’s ex and he and Matteo are kind of a package deal, if you know what I mean.”

“Oh,” David frowns. “Are they together?”

“No, not like that," Sam snorts. "Jonas is straight.”

Jonas is straight.

“He mentioned you today,” David says.

“Matteo?” Sam asks, confused.

“No, Jonas.”

“That’s even weirder,” Sam laughs. “As I said, it’s not like we’re close.”

“He seems kind of… moody,” David says. “Jonas does.”

“Oh?” Sam says. “I guess he can be. He’s a good guy though.”

“Maybe it was me then,” David says, but the show’s started again, taking all of Sam’s attention with it.

David goes back to scrolling through Matteo's Instagram. His feed is mostly just random memes, it seems. It takes a while for David to find a picture of Matteo at all actually. If you dig deep enough there are some of his friends as well, most of Jonas. David wonders if there's something more there, maybe.

\---

Their Communication class gets canceled and David finally gets to take Matteo out for coffee.

Conversation is a bit strained at first, especially on the way to the coffee shop David picked out. Once they're seated with their drinks it picks up a bit though. David thinks Matteo is just one of those people you have to work at a little, to get them to open up a bit more. David is more than willing to put in that work. Once you get him going on something he likes to talk about, it seems easy though. They seem easy. David can really see this turning into something great. He thinks they could be great friends or - or great whatever they want to be.

He's just about to ask Matteo if he wants a refill when the guys from the football club show up. They're a rowdy bunch and David can see Matteo sort of retreat back into himself. Matteo is out of there before David can really explain.

At least he got to have the one drink with Matteo, he figures.

\---

“You have the condoms, right?” Max asks.

“Max, I swear to god, if you say condoms one more time,” Beck replies.

“Hey, just because you don’t have to use condoms-” David starts before she interrupts him.

“Shut up, Schreibner.”

David laughs, because it's hard not to laugh around someone as funny as Beck, but also because it’s funny to see such a tiny girl hauling around a more than generously filled box full of condoms.

“Switch with me,” David offers, ready to hand her over the bags of table decorations and flyers he’s holding.

“Shut up, Schreibner,” she repeats. She lets out a huff but when she finally looks at him her annoyed face turns into a grinning one. “God, you just want me to squeeze your bicep again and tell you you’re big and strong.”

“Save the flirting for the party tonight,” Max calls. “We have a table to set up and condoms-”

“Max, fuck,” Beck yells.

“-to hand out.”

“He’s obsessed.”

“He gave me like a hundred of the ones leftover from last year,” David tells her.

“No offense,” she says. “But what are you going to do with a hundred condoms.”

“Offense taken,” David tells her.

She’s giggling now, except it’s coming out a bit breathless as she’s still struggling under the weight of the box. “Oh fuck,” she wheezes. “Are we almost there? Stop making me laugh.”

“You were laughing at your own joke,” David rolls his eyes, setting down his bags at their table and taking the box off of her to carefully put it on the table. It really is quite heavy.

“Oh, that broke me,” she complains.

“The drama,” David accuses.

“I’m gay,” she says. “We’re dramatic.”

“Okay, okay,” Max says, his counselor voice on. “Thank you, Becky. Thank you, David. You guys are lifesavers and I appreciate it.”

“Okay, so I can go now then right?” She asks.

“If you really have to,” Max starts.

“Yes, I really have to go to class,” she rolls her eyes at David and mouths, this guy.

David steps in for a hug. She clings to him like a koala.

“Don’t let him talk you into skipping class,” she tells him. “Stay in school.”

“But look at this handsome face,” Max says, pinching David’s cheeks. “He’s good for booth business.”

“You look like you ran straight off a runway,” David rolls his eyes. “You’ll do just fine.”

Beck takes off and David helps Max set up the booth. His statistics class doesn’t start until later, so he helps Max hand out condoms and flyers until then. Once word spreads that they’re handing out condoms, their booth gets quite some attention. One guy comes back five times, wearing a different shirt, an extra coat and even a hat at one point just to try and trick them.

Max fills a little bag for him.

“Just,” he tells the guy, sighing. “Be safe. And don’t come back.”

David doesn’t see Matteo and his friends until Max has called over: “Hey guys. Do you want some condoms?”

“Oh, cool,” one of them replies. David recognizes him vaguely, before realizing it’s Carlos. He’s in David’s statistics class and dating Kiki. He hasn’t actually met Carlos in person yet, but he’s seen him in Kiki’s Instagram pictures.

“If you’d ever want to talk, you can find us online here,” Max tells him, handing him a flyer. “But we’re also on campus – our opening hours are on there as well. We work with volunteers but they’re highly trained and will always do their best to help!”

“Cool. I’m straight but my boy Matteo here is gay so if he-“ Carlos says, taking the flyer and studying it for a second.

“Dude,” Jonas interrupts him.

“It’s fine,” Matteo says.

“Dude, chill,” Carlos rolls his eyes at his friend.

David tries to sneak a glance at Matteo, but seems focused on what's going on between Jonas and Carlos. David throws Max an uneasy look, and Max being the kind of person who always knows what to do, defuses the situation and breaks everyone out of the awkwardness by addressing Matteo and telling him: “Well, you’re welcome any time.”

Matteo just nods in reply and silence descends over them again.

“I actually think you’re in my statistics class,” David tells Carlos, for a lack of anything better to say.

“The one that starts in like seven minutes?” Carlos asks, pointing behind them at the uni building.

“That’s the one.”

“I’m Carlos,” David shakes Carlos’ outstretched hand, noting the way he’s trying to keep a good grip of his free condoms.

“David,” David says.

“Oh fuck, that’s right.” Carlos’ eyes widen and David doesn’t know what that’s supposed to mean, except that it’s clear that they’ve been talking about him. As it stands, and with Jonas still not saying much, David guesses it's not all good things they've been saying about him.

“No, I mean. I know you, is all. Or I know of you, at least.”

Which would make sense, seeing as David is living with his girlfriend. But what Matteo says, instead, throws David off again: “We all know Sam.”

“Oh, okay,” David says, not entirely sure why they’re bringing up Sam again. Sam told him they weren’t really all that close. They’re all back to looking at David now. Matteo a little wide-eyed, Jonas a little narrow-eyed. It’s starting to make David feel uncomfortable.

“I’m gonna get going to statistics then,” he says, mostly to Max.

“Oh, wait up, I’ll walk with you,” Carlos offers, saying a quick goodbye to Jonas and Matteo.

David says goodbye as well, but Matteo only responds with a small wave.

“Did you understand anything about last week’s class?” Carlos asks David. “Cause I’m totally fucking lost, man.”

David chuckles, “Yeah, Mr. Hahn isn’t the best at explaining things.”

“Which, honestly,” Carlos says. “Is like your main requirement for becoming a teacher, right?”

\---

David met Leonie through the theatre group. She didn’t end up getting the part but David still remembers her audition for the role of Juliet. He’d been quite impressed with her.

Most people read for the main characters in the first round and then went on to be given different roles and jobs within the production. The girl directing the play, Bree, wanted everyone to try for Juliet or Romeo first, before dividing them all into five groups to work with them further until she’d cast everyone in just the right role.

It had been a really fascinating process to see. Luckily Bree is great, and always allows everyone to say what they want to say, and have input into the play. It makes everything feel very much like it's their production, and not just hers. Furthermore, she always allows David to tag along and watch her work. He's learning so much from her.

At the end of the process, Leonie had been cast as part of Romeo’s gang, and David had been cast as Romeo. While she didn’t have that many lines, she did have to be on stage with David quite a lot and so they were together pretty constantly during rehearsals. Becoming friends with her has been very easy.

Leonie’s been acting a little distant the whole evening, though. She hasn’t really come up to talk to David like she usually would. It’s been so noticeable that several of the cast and crew members have been shooting David looks, trying to figure out what’s up.

After rehearsal, just when David is about to ask her what's going on, she beats him to the punch and asks if they can talk in private.

“Uhm,” David says, noticing that people are looking at them again. “Yeah, sure.”

They grab a couple of bottles of water backstage and make their way to one of the empty hallways.

“I just,” she starts. “This might be a bit random, but I just figured you should know.”

“Okay,” David replies somewhat apprehensively. “Know what?”

“Matteo,” she starts. “I saw you guys at the coffee shop last week. I went to high school with him, there’s some history there.”

“Okay,” David says.

“I was talking to him the other day and he was being so weird,” she frowns. “Weird about you and it just threw me off cause I thought you guys were friends.”

“Weird how?” David asks, even more apprehensive now.

“Weird like telling me that you were no good -“

“He said that I’m no good?” David asks.

“Yeah, it was strange,” Leonie says, tucking her long hair behind her ear and giving David an apologetic smile. “I just thought you should know, you know? Sorry.”

“No, yeah,” David says. He doesn't really know what to say to her. Thank you seems weird. He isn't feeling very thankful at all, really.

“I thought you guys were friends,” she says again.

“Yeah,” David says. “I thought so too."

\---

He’s still toweling his hair dry when the doorbell rings.

“Kiki?” He calls out, but as he steps out of his room and into the hallway he can hear the shower running.

When he opens the door the very last person he would’ve ever expected is standing there.

“Oh, hi.”

If for a split second David harbored any hope that Matteo was there to somehow come and explain what’s been going on, and what he’s apparently been telling people about David - that everything was just one big misunderstanding and actually he really wants to go out for coffee with David again and get to know him – that hope is squashed quite quickly when Matteo just kind of stares at him dumbly from the hall.

It’s like every atom in David’s body is aware that he just got out of the shower, and he isn’t wearing his binder, and all he can do to keep from slamming the door back in Matteo’s face is to cross his arms and repeat his Hi a little louder.

"Hi, sorry. Is Kiki here?" Matteo is finally able to reply.

Of course he’s not here for David.

“She's taking a shower," he answers, and then, because the neighbors are curious enough without them having entire conversations in the hall: "Do you want to come in?"

"Yeah, I just need to grab a book? She should've put it aside for me," Matteo mumbles, breaking eye contact again to stare over David’s shoulder now.

"Let's go find it then," David leads the way inside. "She shouldn't be too long."

"Is Sam in?" Matteo asks.

"No, she's at her parents' for the weekend.”

Matteo doesn’t seem to know what to say to that, so they continue to stand in awkward silence until Matteo blurts out: "I just. The book. It's Kafka."

"I'll go ask," David says, happy for the chance to leave.

He knocks on the bathroom door and calls out: “Kiki?”

David isn’t sure she can hear him over the sound of the shower so he closes his eyes and opens the door a couple of centimeters and tries again: “Kiki, Matteo is here for a book or something?”

“Oh yeah,” she replies. “It’s on my bed, you two can go and grab it! I’ll be out in a minute.”

David has half a mind to just go back to his room and let Kiki take it from there, but he also knows from experience that Kiki is never just another minute when it comes to her showers.

"She said it's just on her bed, and we can go in and grab it," David says, not waiting to see if Matteo follows before stepping into Kiki’s bedroom.

"Yeah, that's it," Matteo says, moving over to the bed to grab the book.

Just as David’s made up his mind about asking Matteo to his face what’s been up with him, Matteo beats him to it.

“What’s going on here?” He asks.

It startles David for a second, cause that’s exactly what he wanted to ask.

“You know she has a boyfriend right?” Matteo asks.

“What?” David replies.

“Kiki. You know she’s got a boyfriend, right? You met him two days ago. Carlos?”

“Yes, I know she has a boyfriend,” David says slowly. It’s not like it’s hard to pick up on with the way she can’t shut up about him, plus he’s always all over her Instagram.

“So you just don’t care? And you don’t care about Sam either?”

“Sam?” David asks. “Matteo, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“This! You. Sleeping around with all these people!” Matteo accuses and David is dumbfounded for a second.

When Leonie told him what Matteo had said, he’d thought that he was just spreading rumors about David to be a dick. This makes it sound like Matteo actually believes this to be true.

David crosses his arms over his chest again and bites the inside of his cheek. Before he can bring himself to reply, Kiki walks through the door into her bedroom: “Who’s sleeping with whom? What’s going on, why are you guys arguing in my bedroom?”

“Apparently I’m sleeping around with a bunch of people,” David finally manages to say.

“What?” Kiki asks, turning to Matteo.

“What is going on here? Why are you two showering together and-?” Matteo asks and Kiki reacts before David manages to because what is he talking about?

“Wow, what? We were not showering together. David took a shower, and then I took a shower. Separately. What are you even saying right now?” David can hear the slight wobble in her voice.

“But why was he taking a shower here in the first place?” Matteo asks. “Sam isn’t here.”

“Because I live here?” David replies.

“You live here?” Matteo asks, obviously unaware. Obviously not even believing him right now.

“Matteo, what the hell is going on?” Kiki asks again.

“You’re living with Sam?” Matteo asks. He looks confused, which David doesn't think is very fair because he's the one with all these weird claims and accusations that the rest of them can't follow at all.

“Why do you keep bringing up Sam?” David wants to know.

“She’s your girlfriend, right?” Matteo asks, the next crazy turn in this already crazy conversation.

“No, she’s not my girlfriend,” David has no fucking idea where he’d even get that from.

“You’re not with Sam?” Matteo asks. “You haven’t slept with Sam.”

“No, I have not slept with Sam,”

“And not Kiki either,” Matteo says slowly.

“So that is what you were trying to say,” Kiki says. “Damn you, Matteo. I can’t believe you’d come into my home like this and accuse me of cheating on my boyfriend.”

“I think this is more a reflection on me than you though,” David says. “Apparently Matteo’s been talking to people about me. He told Leonie that I’m some kind of bad guy? That I don’t respect women and that I just-”

“No. That’s not what I told her at all,” Matteo interrupts him.

“Then what did you tell her?” David asks, angry now cause there’s nothing he wants to believe more than that this was all just a misunderstanding.

Laura was right when she said he’s too trusting.

“I just,” Matteo says, but he doesn’t get any further than just that.

David wants him to explain so badly. Wants him to say: Hey, this was just a misunderstanding. I’m not a transphobic asshole. I’m that sweet kid with the ugly sweaters and the shy smile you’ve been crushing on for weeks now after all.

But he doesn’t say any of that. He says nothing and when Kiki asks him to leave, he does.

\---

David always tries to live the most out and proud, for lack of a better way to put it, life he possibly can. So people can’t make him go back to being a scared 16-year-old who had to move and change schools because he couldn’t sleep and he couldn’t eat and he couldn’t live. Being himself makes him strong, and he refuses to let what other people think they know about him, dictate how he feels about himself.

It’s easier to give himself this speech than to admit how much it hurts to imagine all the things Matteo might be telling his friends about him. It hurts to think about the way Matteo’s friend looked at him in sociology that time, and to connect it to what Leonie told him. So David sits near the front of the class on Tuesday and just skips on Wednesday altogether, camping out in the library instead and going through the chapter by himself.

He eats a whole bag of chips in bed at the end of the day and decides then and there that he’ll allow himself just this one more day to mope about this whole situation, and this boy, before he picks himself up and moves on.

On Thursday he goes back to class and doesn’t allow himself to imagine that people are looking at him differently. He goes to class and he has lunch with his friends and he laughs at Max’s dumb jokes, and he carries Beck’s backpack for her again because the way she fake swoons at him makes him feel a little better. He goes to football practice after class and he intends to just watch, but the guys manage to convince him to kick the ball around a little with them. It feels nice. He has dinner with Anna and Max, and they don’t mention how David’s not mentioning Matteo. By now everyone’s realized that something’s up and he’s happy they’re all giving him the time and space to be embarrassed and sad about everything in private first.

He watches three episodes of Twin Peaks for a class and it only takes him an hour of staring at the ceiling to fall asleep that night.

On Friday he sees Carlos wave at him to come sit next to him in statistics. He gives Carlos a weak smile before taking a seat at the other side of the room instead.

After Matteo left their home last Friday, Kiki had understandably been quite upset about the whole thing. David is pretty sure she’d been crying about it. Carlos had come over, and David had stood in the hallways, listening to how he comforted her.

David doesn’t think he’s a bad guy in any sense of the word, but he’s also not really in the mood to talk to one of Matteo’s friends either.

\---

When Matteo is back on his doorstep the next Friday, David is met with the most unpleasant feeling of déja-vu.

“Hi,” Matteo says.

“Hey."

When the Hi seems to be all Matteo had to offer, David continues: “Kiki isn’t here. Neither are Sam and Hanna.”

“Yeah, I’m here for you. To say sorry, to you,” Matteo says, shifting uncomfortably under David’s gaze.

David figures he’s got two options here, slam the door in his face and leave him standing in the hallway. To be honest, it’s probably what he deserves. Or two, invite him in, listen to the apology and get it over with. At least that way he’ll get some closure, David figures. At least this way they can be civil to each other in class and David doesn’t have to continue hiding in corners and worry about what people are saying. Hopefully.

He sighs and leads Matteo to the livingroom.

David sits down in the recliner and watches Matteo sit down on the couch, opposite the coffee table. He’s got his puffy coat on, and his scarf wrapped around his neck.

“So, I’m sorry,” Matteo starts with.

“Okay,” David replies.

“We got the wrong idea. Horribly. I got the wrong idea.” Matteo seems to take a steadying breath to ask: “Can I explain, please?

“Abdi’s been into Sam for forever now and when we saw how close Sam and you were, we thought you were together. But then you were also really close to all these other people and – you have a lot of friends. Our imaginations just kind of ran with it, I guess.”

David had figured it would be something like this, but to hear Matteo say it out loud makes it sound even more stupid.

"It’s none of your business who I sleep with,” And David can feel himself getting angry again. But instead of a sharp anger, this comes out more like a dull wave. He doesn’t know why he should have to explain anything.

“You're right, it's not.”

"I honestly can't believe you and your friends just thought I was out there cheating on my supposed girlfriend and just being a giant dick to everyone.” And because he doesn’t have anything to lose anymore, David adds: "I gave you my number. For a second I thought that when we spent the morning in the coffee shop last week we could count that as a date. I wouldn't do all that if I was already seeing someone else."

Because Matteo must know how David felt about him. It’s been eating David up inside, thinking that Matteo was mocking him for his feelings behind his back.

Matteo doesn’t seem to have anything to say in reply.

“Look, if you didn’t like me, or don’t want to hang out with me, you should’ve just told me and I would’ve backed off. There’s no need to go and say shit about me to people. I’ve had so many people talk shit about me behind my back and I didn’t think you-”

“Fuck, David, that’s really not it. It’s definitely not that I didn't like you. I liked you too much, that’s the problem. I liked you too much and Leonie was talking about dating you and I was so goddamn stupid and jealous. I never, ever meant to – I never thought you were a bad person.”

David is sure he misheard that at first. Liked you too much. That can’t be what Matteo said. Jealous.

Surely this boy didn’t put him through all this because he has the emotional maturity of a cucumber.

“You liked me?”

And there’s that flush. Matteo’s face goes splotchy red and David’s heart makes a treacherous leap in his chest.

“Matteo?”

“I said what I said, and you heard what I said, so,” Matteo mumbles from behind his hands.

And it’s like suddenly David’s whole idea of the situation shifts. He couldn’t have even dreamt up that this was what Matteo had come over to tell him.

“But like – liked as in, past tense?”

“You’re really gonna make me say it again, aren’t you?”

And maybe David is too trusting. Maybe he is too open with his heart and with his feelings, and maybe he really is too naive. But suddenly everything shifts and it makes sense again. David is sure it’s not just wishful thinking on his part – he’s sure that this is the boy he fell for.

Everything felt so wrong because David had thought he’d been so wrong. He’d been so confused about how someone could’ve played him so well. So unremorsefully.

But turns out he didn’t.

“I think I deserve that much, right?” David gets up from his seat to get closer to Matteo.

“I really like you,” Matteo says again.

David tries not to smile too obviously and instead goes with: “Okay, can you please take off your coat? This has been bugging me pretty much since the start of this conversation.”

“I didn’t want to get too comfortable in case you were gonna throw me right back out.”

David almost has to laugh at that. “Plus being uncomfortable really helps when you’re groveling.”

He takes Matteo’s coat out of his lap and plops it down behind the couch instead. He can’t help but shuffle a little closer to Matteo now, who looks so good and disarming in his oversized cream colored sweater.

“I tell you I like you, and you tell me to take off my coat. What kind of response is that?” Matteo mumbles.

“You were starting to look a bit red, I was afraid you were going to get overheated,” David teases.

David can’t keep up the act anymore. What he wants to do is laugh and smile and be happy and just kiss Matteo.

So he leans in and kisses him. As far as first kisses go, this one is soft and it’s over in a couple of seconds. But it was sweet and David can't stop smiling.

“I like you too,” he confesses.

“Okay. That’s good.”

“I think you’ve done enough groveling. Want a hug?” David could definitely use a hug and luckily Matteo seems to agree, cause he’s on David in a second.

David puts his arms around Matteo’s shoulders and nuzzles into his neck.

“I’m so sorry,” Matteo says softly.

“Don’t make me feel like that again,” David warns. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me, and all that.”

Matteo’s hands are fisted in David’s jumper and David really wants to kiss him again.

“I won’t,” Matteo agrees.

David pulls back from the embrace to give Matteo another kiss. And then another one, and then just one more. David can't be sure how much time passes while he keeps thinking: just one more.

They have to stop and take a breath eventually, and David just wants Matteo to stay all evening. “Have you eaten yet?” He asks. “We can order pizza.”

“Pizza sounds good,” Matteo replies, his cheeks are flushed and he keeps licking his lips. “My treat, cause you got me juice that time.”

David smiles. “Okay, fine.”

Matteo grins like he’s won because David agreed to let him pay. If buying David dinner does it for Matteo, who is David to take that away from him. Even after agreeing on food, and who will pay for said food, it takes them a little while longer to disentangle themselves and start taking action.

“Okay, you place the order,” David says. “And I’m gonna go change into something else. Out of my binder and stuff."

“Okay,” Matteo nods.

“You know what a binder is?” David asks, to make sure. It’s always best not to assume people know what he’s talking about because that just leads to awkward and unnecessary situations.

Matteo nods at him again and says: “For your chest,” kind of motioning at his own chest.

“Yeah. Okay. I’m going to go do that, then,” David says, finally getting off the couch.

David checks his phone on the way to his room. There are several messages in the roommates group from earlier that evening. It's basically just the girls talking about where they were meeting, at what time. He’s got a message from Laura asking him how he’s feeling today. He sends her five smileys and a heart. Laura sends him back three question marks almost immediately and he replies that he’ll explain later.

There are some messages in the theater group chat, but there usually are, so he scrolls through them quite quickly. Finally, David has procrastinated on changing long enough. He picks a pair of sweats and a big jumper, refusing to give it too much thought, and grabs another pair of sweats for Matteo as an afterthought.

When he gets back to the livingroom Matteo is just putting his phone down. “Ordered,” he says. “It said it was gonna take a while. Fridays, you know.”

“That’s fine,” David says. “I brought you these in case you wanted to change out of your jeans?”

“Oh, yeah, great, thanks.”

“Want to get changed in the bathroom and come and wait for the pizza in my room? I think the girls aren’t gonna stay out too late this evening, so they might be back soon,” he says.

Just in case Matteo thinks moving to party to David’s room is a little too forward, he adds: “We can watch a movie or something.”

Matteo grins, like he’s reading David’s mind, and replies: “Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll be right there.”

\---

Matteo looks good in David’s sweats. He’s also taken off his sweater, so he’s left in just a white shirt. When he gets to David's room, he’s holding his sweater in front of himself. He’s also got his backpack slung over his shoulder and David can tell he stuffed his coat in it as far as it could go.

“You can put that wherever,” David says, watching Matteo set everything down by the door before tentatively stepping a bit further into David’s room and having a look around.

“Those are great,” Matteo says, looking at some drawings David put on his wall. It’s a bit, not embarrassing, but a little scary to have Matteo see all these pieces. Matteo’s only seen the little drawings David gave him during class, and sure, those were probably a bit embarrassing as well, but these have a bit more meaning. David hadn’t thought he’d be inviting anyone into his room that evening.

David makes grabby hands at Matteo and pulls him on the bed. “Choose a movie,” he urges, taking Matteo’s attention from the rest of the room.

They take almost forty minutes to decide on a movie. David keeps getting distracted when he finds out Matteo hasn’t seen a certain movie yet, and then he goes off trying to explain why it’s absolutely amazing. Matteo keeps smiling at him, listening to him and, David realises, indulging him. They end up kissing a little as well.

Matteo finally pulls back from the kiss and asks: “Uhm, maybe Bridesmaids? The movie?”

“Oh,” David blinks. “Yeah, sure.”

They get about fifteen minutes in before their pizza arrives. Matteo pays, as he promised he would, and they keep the boxes on their laps as they eat. The girls get back a little after that, they can hear the door open and voices from the living room. Matteo doesn’t seem too keen on saying hello, so they keep quiet and continue the movie.

“Stay over?” David mumbles once the movie is over. It’s getting late, and he’s getting tired and he would love to wake up with Matteo still there.

“Yeah,” Matteo says.

\---

Carlos barges in on them the next morning, and eventually drags Kiki into the room as well. It’s a bit embarrassing but it’s also funny to see how flustered Matteo gets. David can tell he’s still a bit nervous, still a bit apprehensive about being around Kiki when they sit down for a pancake breakfast after, but they have their pancakes and it’s not so bad.

“It wasn’t so bad, right?” David asks him when they’re back in his room.

“It wasn’t so bad,” Matteo agrees.

"Wanna go out on a proper date then?" David asks.

"A proper date?" Matteo acts like he has to give it some thought, but soon he's grinning and nodding. "Where are you taking me?"

"Ice skating," David decides.

"I'm terrible at that," Matteo groans.

"Well, this is my pick," David shrugs. "You get to pick the next date."

"Next date, huh?" Matteo asks.

"Yep, wherever you want to go."

"Maybe I'll pick something you hate," Matteo warns.

"Doubt it," David shrugs. "And if you do, on purpose, just know I'm planning the date after that so there's my chance for revenge."

"That's what?" Matteo asks. "Three dates?"

"Just for starters," David tells him.

"Just for starters," Matteo grins.

**Author's Note:**

> It wasn't easy to build this around existing dialogue, so I hope you enjoyed it! Kudos and comments keep me motivated and inspired! :) 
> 
> I'm also on tumblr under the same username, if you wanna [say hi!](https://bruisingknees.tumblr.com/)


End file.
